Mr. McMorris met the challenges of leadership early in his career. As a fellow to U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson Jr., Mr. McMorris helped amend and mark up H.R. 217, the Homeless Housing Programs Consolidated and Flexibility Act. He also served as an aide to Newark, New Jersey Mayor Sharpe James as well as a press aide during the 1996 Democratic National Convention. Mr. McMorris' success attracted the attention of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and he was hand picked by Martin Luther King III to be Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, a position once held by King's famous father. During his tenure as Executive Director, Mr. McMorris worked to make the mission and philosophy of the SCLC relevant to a new generation of civil rights leaders. Under-girding all these endeavors is Mr. McMorris' unwavering belief in high moral and ethical standards. These standards were acutely developed during his rigorous undergraduate studies at Morehouse College and then Princeton Seminary where he received a masters of divinity degree with a concentration in ethics and public policy. As Mr. McMorris leads Perennial Strategy Group he continually draws on these lessons of leadership to maintain Perennial's status as a premier government relations and consulting firm.